The Sekihoutai
by Seij
Summary: Ignore the title because I couldn't figure out a good enough title. This is basically a Souzou ressurrection. Please R
1. Welcome to the Sekihoutai

A/N: Finally! My first R.K. fic! Please R&R! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  
A black carriage arrived at a small dojo carrying three officials and their young female charge. The doors opened, allowing the four passengers to exit. The young girl exited slowly and cautiously observing the scenery. She walked slowly, but that was due to her tight kimono. Her sandals let out a click click as she hurried to catch up to the officials. The light breeze gradually picked up and her tight bun started to come undone, strands of hair flying into her face. The first official to arrive at the massive dojo doors rang the small doorbell and waited for the doors to open. The girl rapidly fixed both her kimono and her hair, straitening the kimono and redoing the bun. She let out a slight sigh, becoming quite annoyed with the wind and dirt blowing in her face, and then the dojo doors opened.  
"Hello, how can I help you?" An elderly woman asked.  
"Our young charge wishes to be taught the art of the sword. She does have prior experience, even if it's not much." Yahra glared at the official when he said that she didn't have much experience. She had been to twelve dojos in the past two years! She should have enough experience to impress even the master of the dojo. She was going to tell of the official, but instead spoke politely.  
"Sir, in case your memory has failed you, you must recall that I have been to twelve dojos in the past two years, spending two months at every one. That was enough for me to understand the unique fighting styles of each one. And I'm not going to be shoved into another dojo unless I am searching for someone or something, which I am!"  
"Well, I'm sure you don't want to bore this polite lady with your nonsense, so please, Yahra, hold your tongue, or will you be difficult?" Yahra looked at the ground and shook her head. "That's a good girl." Yahra wanted to speak up, but name that was given to her was supposed to be kept secret, in case of emergencies. The elderly woman in the doorway to the doorway stepped forward.  
"Now, Yahra, don't let these men do that to you! Please, Yahra, come in and see the dojo. Maybe we can fine tune those techniques you learned in the past two years." The two women walked into the dojo, and, when the officials started to follow, the older said: "Not you. I'm sure we'll bore you with the stories I intend to tell this lovely young woman. Now, be good little boys and wait outside."  
The two women walked further into the dojo, shutting the doors behind them. After they locked the doors, they burst out laughing. Yahra shook her head, wiped the tears away and stood up straight. "Wow, that's the first time in five years that I've seen those three bewildered by a woman."  
"Yes, well, it is my specialty. By the way, I'm the master of this dojo, but my assistant master aids me so much. Which reminds me, who were you looking for? I know a lot of people so I might be of some help. And while you're in a talking mood, how old are you?"  
"I'm seventeen, and the person I'm looking for is going to be the leader of the Sekihoutai. His name is Souzou Sagara."  
"Well, I can help you. SOUZOU!!!!" The woman called, and a young man, about 29 years old, came running up to them.  
"Yes, master? Why did you call?" He asked politely, seeing that there was a guest. Yahra's eyes widened as she saw the person she had been looking for. His eyes looked at her anxiously and the master laughed at the confusion between the two of them.  
"Souzou, don't look so surprised. I think she's here for the army. You'd better hurry and take her inside while I distract her guards."  
"Right," Souzou answered, turning towards Yahra, grabbing her hand. "Please, come with me inside."  
Yahra nodded and ran inside with him. As they were closing the door a loud thud echoed throughout the inside. It was obvious to them that the officials wanted her back out there and were knocking heavily on the dojo entrance.  
  
"We've got to hurry. I'll try to make this very brief." Souzou grabbed her wrist and pressed a pressure point.  
"OW! That hurt!"  
"Shut up and answer these questions. Are you an imperialist?"  
"Yes." Yahra answered truthfully. She knew that he was able to tell if she was lying or not from her pulse. He nodded.  
"Alright, next question. Are your guards imperialists?"  
"No."  
"Are you loyal?"  
"Yes."  
"Are you able and ready to severely injure or possibly kill an opponent in battle?"  
"I'm not sure. I've only be in practice rounds with other students, but with more practice, I'd be ready." Yahra said calmly, suddenly unsure of her own abilities.  
"Are you able to defend yourself properly during a battle?"  
"I've never been hit or forced down in practice before, so would that qualify as a yes?"  
"Indeed. Will you be able to fight within a group, never alone in battle?"  
"Most likely."  
"Alright. Come with me. Hurry please."  
Both of them left rapidly and ran down the crowded streets until they were outside of the city. They finally slowed to a stop by a cherry blossom tree, trying in vain to catch their breath quickly. Souzou was the first to succeed and, when he did, blew a short shrill whistle. A group of men came out from a nearby grove of trees, carrying something carefully. Souzou shook his head and the men went back into the grove and emerged a short time later with a smaller object. Souzou nodded and took the object.  
"Yahra—that is your name right?" When she shook his head he asked: "What is your name? I thought I heard the master say that was your name."  
"My true name is Edin. No last name, just Edin."  
"Well then, Edin, here." Souzou held out a wakizashi and handed it to her, and, when she gasped in surprised pleasure he continued. "Welcome to the Sekihoutai." 


	2. They're twins

A/N: Thank you for reviewing Kuramasgirl556. I really appreciate it! If anyone notices errors (like my sister did in the rough draft) then please put it in the reviews. And if anyone wishes to flame this fic, please feel free (so long as you have a fic up), but at least tell me what's wrong with it (such as storyline, grammar, spelling, etc) so I can improve. Disclaimer: (which also goes for the first chapter) don't own squat ('cept for Edin) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  
  
Edin took the wakizashi cautiously and examined it. It was a plain wakizashi though the hilt was decorated with a dragon design. She lightly ran her finger down the blade and was impressed when she found no flaws. She looked at Souzou and raised and eyebrow. "Okay, what's the catch? This is a perfect blade, so why would you give it to me?" Edin asked.  
Souzou grinned and said, "Well, you can't fight without a sword and we obviously left all of your things back at the dojo. Which reminds me, did you have any spare clothes? You can't fight in that thing!" Souzou pointed at her kimono as she shook her head. "Well, we'll have to fix that. Katsu! You're in charge of things inventory, right?" When the little boy with long green hair nodded, Souzou continued. "Do we have any extra clothes that might suit Edin?"  
"Yes, Captain, we got some clothes that might suit Edin at the last dojo that we stopped at. Do you want me to take her to try them on?"  
"Yes, she'll need clothes that she can wear when she fights," Souzou closed his eyes for a moment then said, "Wait, do we have any more uniforms? If we do then take her to try one on. That would be more suitable."  
Katsu then turned towards Edin and said a simple, "Come with me please.", and off they went into a small clearing where the Sekihoutai had apparently been resting. Katsu looked in one of the sacks by the remains of the fire. Edin thought this was very odd, because an army such as them should not have left the remains of their campsite unless there was someone injured or something to that point. Katsu must have seen her confusion, because he immediately explained.  
"We were waiting here for the captain to return from the dojo, otherwise we wouldn't have left remains here. We're pretty good about that stuff. Also, from now on, don't call the captain by his name, but call him 'Captain' or 'Captain Sagara'. He wouldn't appreciate it if you called him by his name. Sano and I are the only exceptions to that, and only if we're joking around or if it's an unimportant matter." Edin nodded, understanding completely. Katsu threw some clothes at her. "Try these on. I think they're your size, but if not then try these on. Those are one size smaller," Katsu said, turning around as Edin started to undo the sash around her waist. She tried the first uniform on and told Katsu to turn around. Katsu instantly fell into a fit of laughter shaking his head. "Well, I think the other uniform would fit you better. Let me get you the other trademark pieces. There's the sash, the boots..."  
Edin giggled a little and tried on the other uniform, which fit perfectly. The jacket didn't restrict the movement from her arms or her ducking abilities, which left her able to fight properly. She heard an awed wow from Katsu and turned around. Katsu had all but dropped the adornments and she asked: "So, does it fit?" Katsu laughed a bit before answering.  
"Well, it fits, but you need these. There's boots, and I hope they're your size, gloves, and the trademark sash." Katsu held these out and the first thing Edin grabbed was the boots. Despite Katsu's misjudgment with the uniform size, he did get the boot size correct. She then grabbed the white gloves, and, after adjusting those, put on the red sash. Katsu gasped then ran back to the sack full of the clothes. He came back up with two chopsticks and a small wooden pattern. "Here. These are for your hair. It'll probably get in the way, so we'll probably cut it, but until then use these." Edin untied the red sash and handed it to Katsu then tied her hair into a bun, since the one she had in before came out when she was running away from the dojo. When she was done she then took the sash from Katsu's open hands.  
"Well, how do I look?"  
Katsu circled her three times before answering. "Well, we definitely need to cut your hair, but other than that, you look pretty good." Katsu then called, "Captain! She's ready!" Souzou then came walking up and shook his head. "What's wrong?" Katsu and Edin asked at the same instant.  
"Her hair's too long."  
"Well, give me the scissors so we can cut it."  
And as soon as Katsu gave the scissors to Souzou they did. It took about three minutes to cut it to a reasonable length, about the length of Souzou's hair. Edin and Souzou turned to the rest of the Sekihoutai and asked: "Well?"  
The other little kid, probably the one called Sano, looked from one to the other and said, with the other Sekihoutai, "They're twins..." 


End file.
